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I dropped by this site because my friend’s daughter has Cushings and I wanted to learn more. Is there any chance that Cushings might be manageable or improvable in a way similar to what Izabella Wentz proposes for Hashimotos?

I dropped by this site because my friend’s daughter has Cushings and I wanted to learn more. Is there any chance that Cushings might be manageable or improvable in a way similar to what Izabella Wentz proposes for Hashimotos?

Jayne was diagnosed with Cushing's disease and became pregnant despite her illness, which usually makes women infertile. Jayne was the subject of a Live Interview in the Cushings Help Voice Chat / Podcast series.

I would love to take one of the surveys mentioned in this news article. My Cushing’s went into “remission” just over 31 years ago but I still feel the effects of having had it. Pre-Cushing’s I had no problem working a full day, having a piano studio overflowing with students, going out at night, cleaning the house, being a normal mom...

Pituitary tumors, like those that cause Cushing’s disease, have significant effects on a patient’s physical, mental, and social health, all of which influence their work status and health-related quality of life.

Michelle is from Santa Monica, CA. She is not yet diagnosed with Cushing's but gained 50 pounds with no change in activity or eating. She sent an article on Cyclical Cushing's to her doctor at the Mayo Clinic.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the clinical use of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner — the ultra-high-field 7T Terra MRI — with unprecedented resolution that allows for more reliable images of the brain. The approach recently allowed the precise localization of a small tumor in the pituitary gland, which standard MRI had failed t […]

If you’ve got your finger on the pulse of health trends, it’s likely you’ve been hearing the current buzzwords “cortisol creates belly fat” and “cortisol causes muscle wasting and fat storage.” These are the type of catch phrases that gain momentum every few years. And although some of the fads and trends showing up seasonally in fitness are myths, this caut […]

Today is the 31st anniversary of my pituitary surgery at NIH. As one can imagine, it hasn’t been all happiness and light. Most of my journey has been documented here and on the message boards – and elsewhere around the web.

Patients with growth hormone deficiency due to nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma experienced excessive morbidity due to cerebral infarction and sepsis regardless of whether they received long-term GH therapy, whereas treatment was associated with a normal incidence of type 2 diabetes, despite higher BMI and more severe hypopituitarism in treated patients..

July 8, 2015

Evidence of Crooke hyaline changes in the pituitary gland points to a higher likelihood of Cushing’s syndrome in adults, with the changes in basophil cells occurring in 75% to 80% of patients with the hormonal disorder, according to research in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

In a retrospective review of hospital patient records from adults with Cushing’s syndrome who underwent pituitary surgery, researchers also found that a higher degree of cortisol production, as well as exposure to excess glucocorticoids, are often associated with Crooke’s changes in adults.

“The presence of Crooke’s changes is a clear indication of the presence of Cushing’s syndrome, although the absence of Crooke’s changes does not exclude it,” the researchers wrote.

Edward H. Oldfield, MD, FACS, of the department of neurological surgery at University of Virginia Health System, and colleagues analyzed electronic hospital data from 213 consecutive patients with Cushing’s syndrome who received pituitary surgery between 2008 and March 2014. Researchers reviewed analysis of the normal pituitary tissue included with the specimens obtained at surgery, as well as cortisol production measured by 24-hour urine.

Within the cohort, Crooke’s changes occurred in 74% of patients; Crooke’s changes occurred in 81% of patients with an adrenocorticotropic hormone tumor.

Researchers also found that 91% of patients with an adrenocorticotropic hormone-producing tumor and a urinary free cortisol test at least fourfold the upper limit of normal had evidence of Crooke’s changes vs. 74% of patients with a urine cortisol amount that was less than fourfold the upper limit of normal (P = .008).

“Our results clearly demonstrate a correlation between the degree of cortisol production and the presence of Crooke’s changes,” the researchers wrote. “Patients with cortisol production exceeding fourfold upper limit almost all had Crooke’s changes.”

Researchers said study results indicate that the presence of Crooke’s changes may be used to indicate that a patient has Cushing’s syndrome following a pituitary surgery in which no tumor is found.

“However, the absence of Crooke’s changes does not reliably indicate the absence of Cushing’s syndrome, as 19% of patients with a proven [adrenocorticotropic hormone-producing tumor] did not have Crooke’s changes,” the researchers wrote. –by Regina Schaffer